


We Learn To Live When We Give In

by geckoholic



Category: Original Work
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Cunnilingus, F/F, First Time, Getting Together, Nipple Play, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 22:07:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21004919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckoholic/pseuds/geckoholic
Summary: News of princess Alayna's return is traveling through the castle in whispers, and that means a long summer has finally come to an end. Valerie will return to duty tonight.





	We Learn To Live When We Give In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gargant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gargant/gifts).

> In your request you mentioned this could be adorable or sexy, and I tried make it a mix of both. It really is a fun dynamic, I can confirm. XD
> 
> Not beta'd, so all remaining mistakes are most definitely mine.
> 
> Title is from "Clementine" by Halsey.

Valerie sighs. News of princess Alayna's return is traveling through the castle in whispers, and that means a long summer has finally come to an end. Valerie will return to duty tonight. She has been dreading this day; being the princess's night guard wasn't her first career choice. She's been working with cadets throughout the summer, training them, shaping them. Spending the night at the door, listening to her and her various lovers for about half of it, pales in comparison. And yet that is the post she's been appointed to, the post she _earned_, people tell her, by being the best cadet in her class years ago. 

Quite often, Valerie has wished she had been capable of being second best. If she'd managed that, coming in just behind someone else, she'd be working in the training facilities all year round. But there's no use in yearning for a life she ruined for herself, being too proud, too competitive, too young to know better. 

She sticks her carving knife into the surface of the wooden kitchen table with way more force than necessary, throws the half-done figure of a lady knight in battle into the fire, and then rises to a stand. Valerie has never been in the habit of running from her mistakes. She won't start now. 

***

Princess Alayna's giggles sound down the corridor long before Valerie can spot her. She's not alone; another female voice is joining her laughter, and Valerie rolls her eyes while the princess is still far enough away to safely do so. Not like Alayna would fault her for that; she'd most likely find it funny. Insubordination and a lack of respect are much more of a problem when they reach the queen's ears. 

Valerie isn't prepared for the wave of desire that punches through her when she sees Alayna running her way, long black curls bouncing, the warm light from the candles that dot the corridor glinting off her dark skin. She's in the company of a young noblewoman, arm in arm, talking animatedly as they hurry down the corridor. The noblewoman's lips are wet with saliva. Her painted lips are smeared at the edges. The top of her corsage is undone already, and she's holding it to her chest so it doesn't come off altogether as they're running. Alayna, on the other hand, still looks perfectly put together, as befits a woman of her station. 

She waves at Valerie as she passes her, tugging her companion for the night into her chambers. The door falls shut behind her with a heavy thud, and Valerie leans against the wall, back of the head against the cold stone. Not long now. She really hasn't missed this. She hasn't missed anything about being princess Alayna's night guard, full stop. 

Inside, the giggles continue. The walls in the castle are solid, but sounds still carry, and as almost every night when the princess is here, Valerie soon starts to hear moans and cries of pleasure varying in volume. Alanya's tastes are wide and unpredictable, but one thing is for certain; never will a lover leave her bed unsatisfied. Valerie can attest to that. She hears them, sees their besotted expressions when they stumble from the princess's chambers in the morning. She's the one who has to listen to Alayna brag about every detail of the encounter in the morning, while Valerie's waiting for the shift change and they both know she can't leave yet. 

More than once, invitations have been issued to spend that time in the princess's bed. Never once has Valerie accepted, her honor forbidding her from sleeping with her charge. That's the ironclad reason; it has saved her from asking herself whether she'd want to, if she wasn't tasked with protecting the princess. If she wasn't a low-born guard who has had to fight her way to the top and into the castle guard. If Alayna was someone else. 

They're foolish thoughts, and Valerie shakes her had to get rid of them. But she can't get rid of the noise, and it's always worst that first night, before she's had a chance to reinoculate herself against them. She peers around the corner, listens for passersby, and, when she spots neither, she slowly lets her hand travel down her uniform and into her trousers. She's already wet, her body betraying her as so many times before, and the first brush of her fingers between her folds makes her shiver. She's quick about it, rubbing at her clit with just the right pressure as she listen to the princess's lover's shameless sounds of ecstasy. She bites her lower lip as she comes to stay quiet, and wipes her fingers on the inside of her trousers when she's done. 

The princess isn't, yet, but at least now it's easier to ignore what goes on behind that door. 

***

When she's on the job, Valerie doesn't sleep, but she does take little cat naps, one ear still and always on the princess. That's why the ruckus inside the princess's chambers has her on full alert in seconds; a chair clattering to the ground, an aborted cry that sounds like the first syllable of her name. She heaves the door open and runs into the room, and the scene she witnesses there makes her blood run cold at the same time as it makes her heart swell with pride. 

The noblewoman is lying on the ground, on her back, braced on her elbows, her nudity covered only by a sheet half-wrapped around her body. She's staring up at the princess, stark naked, holding a chandelier. Two candles have broken off and fallen to the ground. The noblewoman is bleeding from a cut above her left brow, and it corresponds with a small smear of red on the edge of the chandelier. 

“Your highness,” Valerie inquires, breathless with worry. “Are you alright?” 

Alayna's gaze snaps towards her, like she's only now realize Valerie entered the room. She looks a bit frenzied, but not really afraid. 

“Oh. Yes, I think. You should...” She trails off and reaches for her robe, hanging off the edge of one of the pillars that hold up the bed's canopy. She pulls it on. Holds it tightly around her body. At once, Valerie steps into the space she vacated and draws her sword to keep the noblewoman in check. “You can call for assistance now.” 

Valerie does as she's told, yelling at the top of her lungs for the nearest sentries patrolling the corridors at every hour of the day. Mere minutes pass until two heavily armored senior guards come running, a third on their heels. They take the noblewoman away; the latter doesn't fight. She most likely went into this knowing that, whether she succeeds or fails in killing the princess, her life will be forfeit. She won't see another sunrise. 

Only once they're gone, the door tightly shut again, does Alayna sink onto her bed. Valerie sits down beside her – offering a shoulder to lean on, should Alayna find herself in want of one – and bans every thought from her head about how improper her behavior might be. “Your highness,” she asks again. “How are you? Have you been injured?” 

Alayna pats herself down as if she isn't quite sure herself, and then inches closer, shifting to indeed lean heavily on Valerie. “I am now.”

She reaches for Valerie's hand, threading Valerie's fingers with her own. Valerie swallows hard. “My princess. I should go, call for your mother if you still find herself in need of someone to soothe your nerves.”

Alayna huffs a small laugh. “My mother's presence is a lot of things, but it definitely isn't soothing.” She tilts her head to peer up at Valerie, and Valerie's heart misses several beats in a row. “I want you here with me, Valerie. You make me feel safe.” 

Valerie opens her mouth to protest, but Alayna shuts her up with a kiss. Somehow, right then and there, Valerie knows she's about to loose the longest fight in her life so far. She'll give in. She'll let Alayna have her, consequences be damned. 

Already Alayna's hands are at her waist, fumbling with the bindings of her uniform. Everything about this is too fast, too sudden. Not a single thought in Valerie's head sticks around long enough to reach the forefront of her mind. Her body doesn't have any such stipulations; it arches underneath Alayna's touch, electrifying even through layers of fabric. It yields when Alayna pushes at her to lay back. It doesn't resist when Alayna claims another kiss, her weight pinning Valerie down. 

Valerie closes her eyes, her head turned to the side. Heat pulses between her legs. She remembers the moans and cries of all those women before here, and her heart sinks a little. The bed is still warm with another woman's body. She wonders whether she'll be just another conquest – maybe a little more exciting and memorable for much longer the hunt has lasted, but ultimately, one of many. 

Chiding herself, Valerie huffs a quiet laugh. Of course she'll be nothing else, nothing special. Alayna is the crown princess, the queen's only surviving daughter. Before long the well-being of the entire kingdom will be her responsibility, the weight on her shoulders, and she'll need someone special to share it with. Someone of noble birth and an excellent upbringing and education to match her own. A future king or queen to help her rule. 

Alayna says her name, softly, and Valerie's eyes fly open, her attention at once back to her lover – to her princess, her charge. “Valerie,” she says again, stroking Valerie's cheek with two fingers. “Do you not want me? Tell me now if I misread, and I will let you go. We will not speak of this again.” 

“My princess,” Valerie starts, but Alayna shakes her head. 

Her expression turns crestfallen, grief-stricken, and Valerie's heart aches, wanting to make it go away. “None of that right now. You know my name. Use it.” 

She cooks her head, and her face lights with something like hope. Valerie startles at the idea that her favor, her decision, could stir up such emotions in Alayna's heart, and she smiles. “Alayna,” she says, and can't help but blush at the insolence. She does it again, louder, less hesitant. She's a fighter. It doesn't suit her to behave like a blushing virgin. She pushes herself up on her elbows and seeks Alayna's gaze, holds it, confidently and sure. “_Alayna._ Yes. Yes, I want you.” 

The last syllable is swallowed by another kiss, wild and enthusiastic and befitting of everything Valerie came to know about her princess. Alayna straddles her waist, getting to work on the last buttons of her uniform trousers, and Valerie reaches up to push the robe down on one shoulder. Her fingers dance along Alayna's skin, and Alayna moans into the kiss. The sound reverberates through Valerie's entire body, and it makes her greedy. She pushes the robe down on the other side, too, and watches as the fine silk slides down to the floor, revealing Alyna's firm, small breasts, her nipples already peaked. Valerie brushes one of them with her fingers, grinning smugly at the small noise of pleasure it elicits from Alayna. She squeezes the small nub with enough pressure to remain just this side of painful. 

“More,” Alayna breathes, and remains still, sitting up, pulling her shoulders back in a gesture that's half surrender, half demand. 

Valerie leans forward so that she can take the nipple she already started tormenting into her mouth, suck and bite at it, while she gently teases the other by rubbing her thumb over the pebbled flesh. With her other hand, she ventures between Alayna's legs, gasps at the wetness she finds there. That makes it easy to glide through Alayna's folds with her forefinger, though, searching for her clit, occasionally venturing further and teasing at her opening with one crooked finger. 

She's drunk on the way Alyna's body moves in synch with her ministrations, seeks out her touch, and it takes a little while before her own need calls itself back to the forefront of her mind; she's still mostly dressed. Her skin tingles with desire, the rough fabric of her uniform driving her mad – too much cloth separating them when all she wants is feel Alayna's bare skin against her own. 

She flips them, carefully, and ignores Alayna's huffed protest in favor of undoing the clasps of her outer uniform. She chucks that off and then pulls the undershirt off over her head, removes the binding around her breasts that protects from being a liability in a fight, and briefly rises to her feet in order to shed her trousers, her underwear, and toe off her boots. 

Naked as the day she was born, she lies back down beside Alayna, who at once pulls her in for another kiss, her hands moving all over Valerie's body like she can't make her mind about where she wants to touch her first. Then she smirks, mischievous, and shimmies lower, positions herself to lie between Valerie's legs. She spreads Valerie's labia with her fingers and then dips her head to close her mouth around Valerie, sucks at her, carefully, and presses the length of her tongue against Valerie's clit. 

Valerie throws her arm over her face, trying to muffle a cry of pure, lustful bliss. She won't be another mark, another women that alerts half the castle to the goings-on in the princess's bedroom. Alayna seems to take that as a challenge; she circles her tongue around, licks and sucks, and Valerie barely notices her shift in order to reach between her own legs, touch herself, share in the pleasure she's giving Valerie. And her talents are considerable; already Valerie can feel her climax approach. She bunches the sheets in her fists in order to keep from bucking up too much, demanding more more _more_, and she sucks her lower lip between her teeth to avoid the desperate moans as her arousal spirals up higher and higher, taking her sanity with it. Her whole body pulls taut with her orgasm, her thighs trembling. 

Alayna rises from between her legs a moment later, folds her knees underneath herself and wipes her mouth. She's grinning, her cheeks bright with the kind of pleasant exhaustion that Valerie feels, too, right now. 

Valerie opens her arms, her heat beating too fast for the short moment it takes Alayna to throw herself into the embrace – still worried she'll be rejected, discarded, ordered from the bed now that Alayna's conquest as at long last been fulfilled. None of the sort happens. Alayna snuggles up against her, looking up to meet Valerie's eyes, and strokes her face in the much the same way she did earlier. 

“Don't fret, my love,” Alayna says, and Valerie shivers at the last word, disbelieving. “It took me years to get us here, I won't let you go again now that I have you.” 

Given Alayna's station, those words could easily carry a notion of force, a threat. Alayna could make Valerie stay, in one way or another, but her voice is low and reverent, and there it is again, the doubt, the notion of hope. This isn't an order; it's an invitation, and one that leaves Valerie reeling. 

She doesn't know what it entails. _My love._ That could mean any number of things, from a lover for one morning and one morning only, a way to chase away nervousness and fear, to something more, something unfathomable. It's not unheard of that a future queen may pick a commoner to stay at her side, a fighter or a tactician, although it hasn't happened in several generations. 

Alayna shushes her, kisses slowly and with great care. Then she smiles. “We will talk later. It will be your call, all of it, everything. But first, let us sleep. Let me have this one day, whatever you decide, so that I may keep it close to my heart for the rest of my life.” 

Valerie smiles back, and a warm and content feeling spreads throughout her that she's never known before – bigger than afterglow, more than the high after a fight or a good workout, beyond the physical. And Alayna is right; she'll have enough time, later, to talk, to think, to weigh her options and examine her emotions. But it's been a long night, an exciting morning, and she's tired. She wants to fall asleep with her princess in her arms. 

Whether it'll be the first or the last, the only time, that question can still be answered later.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [dreamwidth](https://geckoholic.dreamwidth.org/), [tumblr](http://lostemotion.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/spacenerdz).


End file.
